Not as Hopeless as it seems
by EtherealDreamCloud
Summary: Joe Deen finished work for today as a director with the episode "Fitness Frenzy" of the show "Neighbours from Hell" However, it wasn't fun and games this time. The reason for that is that the show's host Woody Trickster had an incident which involved an unsuccessful prank with an expander. Will Joe have any hope and comfort despite these difficult times?


It was around evening. Its lull had come to the streets and had sent the birds to their roosts. Joe Deen just arrived at a retro-looking café in the city of Vienna. He just finished work for today as a director with the episode "Fitness Frenzy" of the show "Neighbours from Hell" However, it wasn't fun and games this time. The reason for that is that the show's host Woody Trickster had an incident which involved an unsuccessful prank with an expander. That led him to injure his eye and almost possibly getting caught by the infamous Roger Rottweiler. The director was certainly not in a good mood because of that incident. Especially when earlier after he got harshly scolded by the manager Maurice Paek for it. Joe was deep in thought. Someone came over to him and asked:

"Good evening! What would you like, sir?"

This somewhat snapped him back to reality and simply replied:

"Oh... Just two cups of coffee, please."

"Okay, right away."

Then he was already in his thoughts again. It was already clear that he seemed to be waiting for someone. It wasn't anyone from the camera crew, nor the neighbourhood Blue Highway. After a few minutes, a young tomboyish lady named Eleanor Alway approached the cafe. She had mocha-like blond hair that had two braids at the front. Eleanor noticed Joe. She called out to him while waving, but he didn't notice. Which was why she approached the table where he was. The lady jokingly greeted him:

"Helloo, Earth to Joey!"

"Oh, hello, Ellie." he greeted back as he got up and hugged her "Sorry, I was thinking about something."

"I noticed that, Cheddar."

"Very funny." he laughed even though he was slightly annoyed. It didn't help that he's still wearing his uniform.

Right as they let go and sat down, the waitress came back with the cups of coffee for them and served them. After the waitress left, Eleanor was the first to speak:

"Were you waiting too long?"

"Well, not really." Joe replied, "So how was your day?"

"The others from work wanted me to play the role of a character who's sort of like me. Though the character is also erratic and hot-headed sometimes, unlike me. Sometimes even kind of overconfident," she explained, then paused for a moment to think what to say next "I refused it because as an actress, I usually play any role as long as it's not romantic and such, but what was offered to me made me feel uncomfortable."

"Why would it make you uncomfortable?" he inquired.

"Same reason whenever anyone calls me Leana or Lean?" she just shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

"Come on, those nicknames aren't that bad in my opinion. Even the role doesn't seem that bad. Some people, in reality, are actually like that." Joe tried to reason with her.

"I know but they somehow make me feel uncomfortable." the lady flinched just thinking about that.

"For little to no reason?"

"Maybe there are reasons, but I just don't know them," Eleanor said thoughtfully "You know how unexplained fears are because of past lives, so maybe it's the same reason for unexplained discomfort."

"You went a little too far with that statement, but it does seem possible." Joe agreed, smiling.

There were about a few minutes of silence, but neither of the two minded it. As long as they were with each other, they find it comforting.

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask about your day," she spoke up again "So how was it?"

That was the moment where Joe went completely serious and stern. He knew he had to be honest, so he kind of thought about how he should choose his words to explain.

"Is anything wrong?" Eleanor asked.

"I got scolded by the manager." the director replied shortly.

"Is he your boss, or what?"

"We just work together, but I am responsible for most of the things in this studio," he stated.

"And what went wrong then?" she questioned further.

Joe let out a deep sigh of what seemed to be between tension and dejection, then explained:

"It's one of those days when someone isn't careful. The host got almost into trouble because a dog spotted him."

"And you got blamed for that?" she got unpleasantly surprised after hearing that.

"I'm the director! Of course, I got blamed for that!" because of the stress, he unknowingly let himself raise his voice while slamming his hands on the table.

There was silence for about a moment. He felt bad for raising his voice, and it showed on his face. He began speaking again by earnestly saying:

"When you're the leader of something, it is you with the most responsibility..."

After hearing all of that, the lady suddenly stood up, went up to him and gave him a reassuring hug.

"You did your job well enough," she said to him encouragingly.

"Thank you, dear. I sure hope that's true." Joe surely appreciated that.

Eleanor while going back to her seat, he said:

"Listen, I need someone to do makeup for our host. I couldn't find anybody who has got time for that."

The mocha-like blonde lady stayed silent for a while trying to think of something. When the director was about to say something, she suddenly replied:

"Wait, honey. Why don't you hire an assistant? Someone who could do different things as a part-time job?"

"You mean you can do it?" he was surprised to hear that.

"No, no, I can't put makeup even on myself. I still need to get used to that. Hell, even a monkey can do it better than me." she explained, then continued "Anyway, what I meant was that there's always some young girl from the city who's willing to do it. She doesn't necessarily have to be a makeup artist."

"Really? Then I'll consider hiring someone for the job. Thanks, dear." he smiled.

"You're welcome, honey." she smiled sweetly, then suddenly decided to playfully tease him again "Or should I say 'Gouda'?"

"Stop with the 'cheesy' nicknames" Joe laughed even if it slightly annoyed him "or else I'll start calling you things like Mocha, Machiatto or Cappuccino."

Eleanor faked a gasp and "exclaimed":

"How dare you!"

They continued joking and spending some time talking about different things. Even after they left the cafe, they continued spending time together walking around, while holding hands. It was that moment that they both realized that they're not alone in any single way even in difficult times. In other words, hope is alive, it just needs time to surface.


End file.
